News and Reviews in the Christian Arts

This blog now is posted on a Christian newtorking site called Shoutlife as well as here on Blogger every Tuesday. Masterwork Productions will host a live chat for Christian artists every Tuesday from 7 to 8 pm on the site. To check out the site and to join us for the chat in the "Christian Perfoming Artists" group, go to http://shoutlife.com.

I totally enjoyed Anita Renfroe's book "If You Can't Lose It, Decorate It: And Other Hip Alternatives to Dealing With Reality" (NavPress 2007). I was expecting a collection of funny stories after having seen Ms. Renfroe's hysterical act at a conference earlier this year, and there certainly is laugh-out-loud humor throughout the pages of this book. It also includes, however, great insight and practical, Godly advice. I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Renfroe at that conference and she was very friendly, down to earth and pleasant. After just a few minutes of conversation, I thought, "We could be good friends."
Those same characteristics are evident in her writing, where you feel like you're out shopping with a friend who's filling you in on what's happening in her life. And she shares insights about things we all talk about with friends: how we look, how we feel about ourselves, raising our familes -- basically, the stuff of life.
The best humor comes in passages where Ms. Renfroe is attempting to explain something serious and diverts to tell us what's really on her mind, like how Suze Orman's teeth are very large and scare her or how she has a love-hate relationship with her cell phone, vacillating between wondering how she ever lived without it to wondering how she can smash it and cause it a horrible death.

I also enjoyed another book, "Conversations at the Girlville Diner: Finding God in Life, Love and Other Daily Specials" by Kim Bolton (authored with Chris Wave). Ms. Bolton is a Christian entertainer who tours the country performing and speaking. The book is a collection of thoughts from humorous to heartbreaking and serves as a great starter for your daily devotion.

Next week I'll be visiting with a number of Christian performers in the Nashville area. God continues to provide opportunities for those of us involved in serving Him through the arts to fellowship together!